Solar storm detection

Factual Questions
1

So OK there is a solar storm out there somewhere.
It might hit earth???
So how do I know when it gets here?
Is there a home solar storm detector?
Can I make one cheaply in the next couple of minutes?

2

Tune an AM radio to a weak, but steady station. When it goes away suddenly, that’s a pretty good indicator. Geomagnetic storms caused by solar flares and CMEs distrupt radio communications, especially the lower bands.

3

http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/dst_index/page1.html

4

What units are nts?

5

nT is nano-Tesla, a measure of magnetic field strength (flux density). I think it’s just the ACE satellite magnetometer reading.

6

Cool
Are the times GMT?
Time at ACE?
Couldn’t access NASA site completely.
Things are pretty slow today.

7

Lots of aurora info in these previous threads:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=187208

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=138524

8

Looks like it’s due to hit in about 35 minutes as of the time of this post.